My friend Sarah spent the (southern) Summer on a ship in Antarctic waters chasing whaling ships and trying to stop them. The ship, the Farley Mowet, got some press in Australia but not much over here in the UK, I’m afraid.

Have joined the library here in Islington which is great as I love reading. If only I could be paid to sit around and read books! Just got a call from a temping agency; they might have work for me on Friday! Let’s hope so.

I am currently reading the Watchmen by Alan Moore, Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk (he wrote Fight Club) and Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson. I have to drag myself to the internet cafe to look for work. I just want to sit in a cafe all day reading! But I seem to have given up caffeine and gone vegan in the last week so it’s harder to justify doing that now – and we’re broke.

I did buy a decaf soy caramel cappuccino on the weekend (really). I’ve never liked soy milk but I figured if i’m going to give up dairy then I’ve gotta get myself onto the soy and what better way than with caramel and coffee flavouring. I know I’m going to miss dairy products more than meat. It’s funny, a friend of mine who is vegan will probably be very happy that I’m doing this but I haven’t rushed to tell her in case I don’t keep it up. I mean, I’m still finishing off food at home that contains animal products and I was planning to ease myself into it anyway. I’m sure there will be occasional lapses. And, I don’t actually have a problem with humans eating animals. I have a problem with the waste and cruelty in factory farming methods. And also the environmental cost of excessive meat consumption worries me. Paul and I were discussing it yesterday and part of the problem with decisions such as this (going vegan) is that we don’t know where all our food comes from, how it is made, who makes it, etc. If I’m buying soy products and an area was cleared to grow it and a heap of animals lost their habitat then maybe it’s as bad as meat consumption. If our vegetable diet is full of plants grown in monocultures that strip the land and don’t leave time for renewal then that’s not something we want to be supporting. I guess we just gotta try to buy food directly from the farmer!